Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1500 metres race, the longest flat-track race of the 1896 Summer Olympics programme, was the last event on 7 April. It was run in a single heat, with eight athletes competing.[1]

Men's 1500 metres
at the Games of the I Olympiad
VenuePanathinaiko Stadium
DatesApril 7
Competitors8 from 5 nations
Winning time4:33.2 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Edwin Flack
 Australia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Arthur Blake
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Albin Lermusiaux
 France
1900 →

Summary

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Albin Lermusiaux of France led for most of the race, but was caught by Edwin Flack and Arthur Blake 100 meters from the finish.

Flack pulled away to beat Blake by five meters, becoming the first Australian Olympic champion, with Lermusiaux finishing third, a further 15 meters back.

The four Greek athletes trailed the other four athletes, though records do not indicate which position the last two finished in.

Background

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This was the first appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Albin Lermusiaux of France had held the unofficial world record for two weeks in 1895; the two men who had broken his record since then were not present in Athens. Arthur Blake of the United States and Edwin Flack of Australia were also significant distance runners competing.[2]

Competition format

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The competition consisted of a single round.[2][3]

The track was 330 metres in circumference, unlike modern tracks, which are 400 metres: as such, the race 15 meters longer than 412 laps. The track had very sharp turns and was made of loose cinders, making running difficult. Runners also turned clockwise, rather than the current counterclockwise turns.[2]

Records

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World record   Thomas Conneff (USA) 4:15.6 (u) New York City, United States 26 August 1895
Olympic record New event n/a n/a n/a

Edwin Flack set the initial Olympic record of 4:33.2 in the only race held.

Schedule

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The precise times of the events are not recorded. The 1500 metres was the final event of the second day.[3]

Date Round
Gregorian Julian
Tuesday, 7 April 1896 Tuesday, 26 March 1896 Final

Results

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Edwin Flack   Australia 4:33.2 OR
  Arthur Blake   United States 4:33.6
  Albin Lermusiaux   France 4:36.0
4 Carl Galle   Germany 4:39.0
5 Angelos Fetsis   Greece Unknown
6 Dimitrios Golemis   Greece Unknown
7–8 Konstantinos Karakatsanis   Greece Unknown
Dimitrios Tomprof   Greece Unknown

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1896 Athens Games: Men's 1500 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "1500 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b Official Report, pp. 71–72.

Notes

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